Rao Set To Launch New Adventure In Athletic Training

Albion College senior Lauren Rao is accustomed to being on the
go. After all, she juggled the demands of being a varsity diver,
singing with the a capella group Bella Voce, and being a member of
Kappa Alpha Theta sorority in addition to the hundreds of clinical
hours needed to complete the athletic training major.

Rao will receive her degree from Albion College in May, but her
schedule isn’t likely to let up anytime soon because she will
begin the 13-month master’s program in athletic training at
the University of Virginia in June. With her decision to
matriculate in a rigorous program, Rao follows in the footsteps of
some of Albion’s finest athletic training alumni –
Lindsay Drewes, ’05, Mark Feger, ‘ 11, Micaela Kelso,
’05, and Jenny Sims, ’08 – who went to
Charlottesville for graduate school.

“From my conversations with Jenny, (the program at the
University of Virginia) is like Albion but more intense,” Rao
said. “I’m quite proud to say I’m following in
the footsteps (of Albion alumni).

“Jenny told me it will be the hardest year of my life, but
it will be worth it,” Rao said. “I hope to reflect
positively on the Albion athletic training education program so
that more students can follow in my footsteps.”

In addition to completing the coursework for her master’s
degree in just a year’s time, Rao will serve as a graduate
assistant athletic trainer for a Division I athletic program at
Virginia or the Virginia Military Institute and will write a
thesis.

The compressed program at Virginia allows graduates to enter the
workforce a year earlier than students in typical programs, but Rao
may not forge a career solely as an athletic trainer. She pointed
to Feger and Sims who are currently working toward Ph.D. degrees,
and says adding research and teaching piques her interest.

“I have found my time here in the cadaver lab as a
teaching assistant in anatomy to be one of the most rewarding
experiences,” Rao said. “It is easy to connect one
thing to another because everything is made for a reason, and there
is a rhyme or reason to why (body parts) were named. Because I am
able to memorize these reasons, I can pass that knowledge on to the
students. If it works for these students, I think I could be
successful as a teacher.”

Rao noted the athletic training major was attractive because of
its status as an allied health profession and it would keep her
close to her passion for athletics.

A Troy native who comes from an athletic-oriented family, Rao is
proud to claim herself as the first member of her family to
complete four years as a varsity athlete at the collegiate
level.

“I’m especially proud because diving is such a long
season,” Rao said of the collegiate campaign which stretches
from October to February. “It’s been long and hard, but
I’m excited to say I made it through it.

“I’m more proud of what I’ve done for the
people around me than the things I personally have
accomplished,” she added. “I’m proud of my GPA,
but what I really hope to take away are the friendships and the
connections I’ve made with the athletes I’ve served as
an athletic training student.”

While competing in diving could have made it difficult to log
the clinical hours required to sit for the National Athletic
Trainers Association Board of Certification exam, Rao easily met
the quota. Working baseball doubleheaders in the spring of her
junior year and being able to work in the athletic training room
before her 7 p.m. diving practices made it easier, she said.

As graduation nears, Rao reflected not only on the
student-athletes she has served as an athletic trainer but the
faculty who have pushed her academically and will allow her to gain
respect as she begins her career.

“(Professors) Bob and Carol Moss are known throughout the
country, and since I’ve been taught by them, people already
respect me,” Rao said. “The addition of Scott Michel to
the program as a professor has been tremendous. Scott has pushed us
so hard, not just academically, but emotionally to be the best we
can be.”